Надписите към изображенията на Вселенските събори в Елешнишкия манастир (XVI в.) – извори и проблеми
The Inscriptions to the Frescoes Depicting Ecumenical Councils at the Eleshnitsa Monastery (16th c.) – Sources and Problems

Summary/Abstract: The author analyses the frescoes illustrating the Ecumenical councils found in the Eleshnitsa monastery near Sofia. The accompanying explanatory inscriptions to the scenes as well as the iconography as a whole have no analogue either in preserved frescoes in other churches or in late iconography manuals. The inscriptions in Eleshnitsa show a remarkable resemblance to the wellknown “Narrative of the Ecumenical Councils”, according to the transcript found in “Codex of Tsar Ivan Alexander”. The non-standard iconography, which might have come from an earlier epoch and is undoubtedly connected with the above-mentioned literary source, has been interpreted in two ways – on the one hand, emphasizing the Bulgarian church priority in anti-heretical struggles (two Ecumenical councils were held in Turnovo in the 14th c. ), compared to the Church of Constantinople, and on the other – illustrating a monastery rather than a church iconographic tradition.

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